Fallacies Flashcards
Fallacy
A type of argument that seems to be correct, but contains a mistake in reasoning. (or any error in reasoning)
Fallacy of Affirming the Consequent
If every P is a Q, it does not follow from the fact that one is a Q and that one is a P.
Formal Fallacy
A pattern of mistake that appears in deductive arguments of a certain specifiable form. Most fallacies are INFORMAL.
Informal Fallacy
Arise from confusions concerning the content of the language used. There is no limit to the variety of forms in which that content may appear, thus are often more difficult to detect than formal ones.
Fallacies of Relevance
The most numerous and the most frequently encountered. In these fallacies, the premises of the argument are simply not relevant to the conclusion. HOWEVER, because they are made to appear to be relevant, they may deceive. “bald mistakes” They arise when there is no real connection between the premises and the conclusion of an argument. Because that connection is missing, the premises offered cannot possibly establish the truth of the conclusion drawn. The mistakes arise when some emotive features of language are used to support the truth f a claim for which no objective reasons have been given.
The Appeal to the Populace (Argumentum ad Populum)
Sometimes defined as the fallacy committed in making an emotional appeal, but this definition is so broad as to include most of the fallacies of relevance. More narrowing, it is defined as the attempt to win popular assent/approval to a conclusion by arousing the feelings of the multitude/large # of people. Is one of the most common fallacies.
- instrument in which every demagogue and propagandist relies when faced with the task of mobilizing public sentiment.
- instead of evidence and rational argument, the speaker relies on expressive language and other devices calculated to excite enthusiasm for or against a cause.
- example: Hitler (patriotism, but appealed to emotion to manipulate and mislead audience.
- An emotional defense of belief lacks intellectual merit, but the conclusion of that bad argument may be supportable by other premises of a more rational sort. Still, offered as the premises of an argument,sheer emotion is fallacious.
- A qualification may be in order here. If the passions of the speaker are used to convince his listeners that some beliefs are true, the argument is indeed fallacious.
- However, if the speaker and his listener are in complete agreement in their beliefs,and the speaker aims only to spur his listeners to act in support of those mutual beliefs, the emotion he exhibits may serve a useful purpose. There is a distinction to be drawn between emotions used improperly as premises in argument and emotions used reasonably as triggers for appropriate conduct.
- In argument, however, the logical point remains very important: A conclusion defended with premises that are directed mainly at emotions is a fallacious argument ad populum.
Appeal to Pity (argument ad misericordiam)
A fallacy in which the argument relies on generosity, altruism, or mercy, rather than reason.
-Generosity and mercy
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The Red Herring
a fallicious argument whose effectiveness lies in distraction. Attention is deflected; readers or listers are drawn to some aspect of the topic under discussion by which they are led away from the issue that had been the focus of discussion. They are urged to attend to some observation or some claim that may be associated with the topic, but that is not relevant to the truth of what had originally been in dispute.
The Straw Man
A fallacy in which an opponent’s position is depicted as being more extreme or unreasonable than is justified by what was actually asserted.
- One may view this fallacy as a variety of the red herring, because it also introduces a distraction from the real dispute. In this case, however, the distraction is of a particular kind: It is an effort to shift the conflict from its original complexity into a different conflict, between parties other than those originally in dispute.
- The extreme position in any dispute—the claim that conduct of a certain kind is always wrong, or always justified is likely to be difficult if not impossible to defend. Therefore it is often a fallacious device to contend that what one aims to defeat is indefensible because it is categorical or absolute.
- arguments often take the form of supposing that the position under attack adopts the most extreme view possible—that every act or policy of a certain kind is to be rejected.
- The argument often presents a genuine objection or criticism, and the objection may be sound, but it is aimed at a new and irrelevant target.
- The arguments present a special risk to their proponents. If, in controversy, a critic depicts his or her opponents in a way that is clearly more extreme and more unreasonable than is justifiable given what they had written or said,readers or members of the audience are likely to recognize the exaggeration and to respond in a way quite opposite to what was hoped for.
The Attack on the Person (Argument ad hominem)
A fallacy in which the argument relies upon an attack against the person taking a position.
-These, in addition to being unfair to the adversary (as straw man arguments are also), are hurtful, often inflicting serious personal damage without any opportunity for the fallacy to be exposed or its author chastised.
-An ad hominem argument is one in which the thrust is directed, not at a conclusion, but at some person who defends the conclusion in dispute.
-This personalized attack might be conducted in either of two different ways, for which reason we distinguish two major forms of the argument ad hominem: the abusive and the circumstantial.
ABUSIVE
- denigrating the character of those who take the side one rejects.
-The accusation of guilt by association is a common form of ad hominem abuse.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL
-The substance of the fallacy is to contend that you(the first party) are just as bad as I am, just as guilty of whatever it is that you complained about. “Look who’s talking”
-ad hominem arguments are sometimes used to suggest that the opponents’ conclusion should be rejected because their judgment is warped, dictated by their special situation rather than by reasoning or evidence. However,an argument that is favorable to some group deserves discussion on its merits; it is fallacious to attack it simply on the ground that it is presented by a member oft hat group and is therefore self-serving.
- Poisoning the well= A variety of abusive adhominem argument in which continued rational exchange is undermined by attacking the good faith or intellectual honesty of the opponent.
-In each case we must ask: Is the attack on the person relevant to the truth of what is at issue? When, as commonly occurs, the attack is not relevant to the merits of the claim, the ad hominem argument is indeed fallacious.
The Appeal to Force
A fallacy in which the argument relies upon an open or veiled threat of force.
-That fascist view appears to guide many of the governments of the globe to this day; but the argument ad baculum—reliance on the club, or on the threat of force in any form—is by reason unacceptable. The appeal to force is the abandonment of reason.
Missing the Point (Irrelevant Conclusion)
A fallacy in which the premises support a different conclusion from the one that is proposed.Also known as irrelevant conclusion and “ignoratio elenchi”
- Most difficult to describe with precision.
- It arises when the argument goes awry—when, on close examination,there is a “disconnect” between the premises and the conclusion.
- The twist may on occasion be an instrument of deliberate deception, but more often the fallacy is the product of sloppy thinking, a confusion in reasoning that the author of the argument herself does not fully recognize, or grasp.
- He refutes, or tries to refute, a claim other than that which was originally at issue. He misses the point.
